The Stowe Derby (a girls weekend and all) was great!!! . We had perfect, but really perfect, weather!
As a reminder, here is how the event is 
described on their web site:
The challenge is to race from the top of Mt. Mansfield, Vermont’s highest peak, to the historic village of Stowe… on ONE pair of skis! Over the course, participants ski through 20 km of challenging terrain, racing down Mt. Mansfield’s Toll Road and along the entire length of the Stowe Recreation Path before reaching the finish in the village. The course has a total vertical drop of over 2,600 feet.
It had snowed from Saturday afternoon till the wee hours of Sunday morning giving us about 8-10 cm of fresh, dry, light weight snow. The weather was -10 C when we got up on Sunday morning with no wind. By the time we started the Derby just after the noon hour, it was around -4 C.
It was an amazing experience! Fun and friendly people all around, from the downhill skiers to the x-country skiers, new and old participants, to the volunteers and the crowd cheering on the side.
The first 5 km of the Derby was on the Mount Mansfield ski center downhill Toll Rd. Fast enough to Continue reading
Day: February 24, 2015
2015 02 21-22 at Mont Ste Anne — As Great As Always!
It’s hard to believe that it had been four years (Feb 2011) since the club last had a weekend trip to Mont Ste Anne. We had gone there every year without fail for over 10 years until then. But then our favorite place (Hotel Val-des-Neiges) got sold to a condo developer and we decided to take a break from Mont Ste Anne. This year we decided it was time to try going back. Joanna offered to investigate and found us a good deal at the Chateau Mont Ste Anne, which is right at the base of the downhill ski center, instead of 1 km down the road like our old place. It was a bit surprising then that only 11 people signed up for the weekend. But there has been a trend in the club in recent years to travel shorter distances to our weekend spots. At the last minute, one person had to stay home due to a work conflict, so in the end we were only 10 people at Mont Ste Anne.
We all drove up Friday afternoon and checked in. The rooms are very comfortable and are all equipped with a small galley kitchen, so you can bring your own food if you want. But we all opted to meet in the lobby at 6:30 pm and start the weekend with another old tradition — dinner at the St Bernard Resto Pub down the road near the place we used to stay. It was as good as we remembered it.
The next morning we enjoyed our buffet breakfast in the dining room while admiring the view of the ski hill through the full-length windows. Saturday was going to be the big ski day for all of us and we plotted how to attack the trails. It was -16 C with low wind, which Continue reading